Lincoln's Heroes 2012 Edition

We arrived bright and early Saturday morning at the Tempe Diablo Stadium to participate in Sharing Down Syndrome's Walk for Down Syndrome. Our family had a lot of fun last year, so we were amply excited to go again--especially Bree. And this year Lincoln was old enough to know that we were at a big, fun event. The older kids jumped right into the nearest bouncy castle when we got there, while we hung out with Lincoln, trying to stay in the shade.

The stroller couldn't keep him happy for long though.

He got quite  a lot of attention, what with being an adorable, tiny little man wandering around on his own.

While Lincoln was exploring, Bree and Mason tried their hands at the various carnival booths.

And they were AMAZED to see that Spider Man was there.

Then Lincoln started getting cranky, so Chad put him on his shoulders. That little arrangement didn't last long. Lincoln wouldn't leave his hat or his sunglasses alone.

Lincoln was getting hotter and crankier by the minute. At 9:15am it was 90 degrees. A free Jamba Juice smoothie helped. It was also the first time Lincoln successfully drank from a straw (so that's the secret; he just hasn't been dehydrated and overheated with previous straw attempts!).

The smoothie kept him happy for like four minutes. We tried free Blue Bunny ice cream next.

That kept him relatively quiet while the other kids got painted tattoos (that's my friend Amy's daughter on the left).

At this point we were purposely skipping the actual walk portion of the festivities because A) It was very hot, B) Lincoln was losing it, and C) They were making people actually walk...like out of the stadium and along a path of considerable distance, which is not what we signed up for (how dare they expect us to walk at a Walk, right?). Now I must add D) We are lame and lazy.

One of the highlights of hanging out by the tattoo booth is that we got to meet Gina Johnson, the founder of Sharing Down Syndrome, and one of the most amazing people I've ever met.

We were so glad that Adam and Heather could be there with us, my friend Amy and her family came again, and my cousin Jennifer and her girls came too. We are so grateful to everyone who has shown their love for us and for Lincoln!

Lincoln is appreciative too, despite the fact that he's screaming in this picture

9/22/12

(ABC did a local news story about the walk, which was neat to watch)